Commitment

The Research School of Chemistry is committed to ensure the safety of its staff, students and visitors.

For their own sakes, and in their own interests, all staff and students are required to observe the ANU Procedures and Policies and RSC safety Regulations. The ANU principles of this commitment are defined in the ANU Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy.

Incidents, Near-misses, and Hazards

All incidents, near-misses and hazards must be reported (a) to your direct supervisor, and (b) to ANU's incident reporting system Figtree. Certain incidents have to be reported to Comcare (find out which ones using this Comcare flowchart). In those cases it is critical to preserve the incident site until Comcare has provided clearance.

People who do not have access to Figtree should contact their local contacts/hosts and email an incident description to ohsincidents@anu.edu.au and rsc.safety-officer@anu.edu.au.

After-hours login

RSC staff and students must sign in outside business hours (Mo-Fr, 8:00-18:00) when entering or remaining in the building, independent of the kind of work that is being done.

Visitors must at any time and must be accompanied by RSC staff at all times unless inducted into the building to the appropriate level.

Signing in is done via the tablets freely available in the foyer of building 137 and the link entrance between buildings 137/138. Alternatively, use the WOL Mobile app and sign in/out using your mobile phone (iPhone or Android; contact rsc-facilities@anu.edu.au or rsc.trainingofficer@anu.edu.au to retrieve your unique sign-up code).

Safety Alerts and Safety News

Please read the latest RSC and ANU safety alerts.

• Risk assessment at RSC - next steps (link to PDF on Sharepoint)
• RSC Weekly Bulletin containing WHS notices (Sharepoint link; updated weekly)
• On the ANU Injury Prevention page a resource on lab ergeonomics is now available (links to ANU web page).
• WEG safety alert: Reminder on ANU campus being smoke-free (no designated smoke areas - more info here). (WORD, TD 21/06/2022)
• Free flu vaccination available for ANU staff (link to web page)

COVID-19 related

• RSC COVID RA (updated following latest changes of ANU Guidelines; ver. 4.0; 30/03/2022)
• Common ANU COVID controls for inclusion in static RAs.  
• Before you consider travelling or bringing visitors/contractors in, review ACT Health Travel advice
• Work on campus under COVID-19: Updated ANU guidelines (03/03/2022) - includes advice on Check In CBR use at ANU and reporting requirements for positive cases.
• ANU events and functions guidelines (incl. COVID considerations) (link to PDF dated 10/03/2022)

ANU Policies and Procedures

• ANU Work Health and Safety Management System (WHSMS) Handbook
• ANU Policies, procedures, and guidelines
• ANU Work Health and Safety (WHS) web page
• ANU Chemical Handbook(PDF, ANU resource)

RSC Policies and Procedures

• RSC Local WHS Plan 2021 (initial plan Jan. 2021 and final review Mar. 2022) (Links to PDFs on SharePoint; links updated 24/03/2022)
• RSC Local WHS Plan 2022 (initial plan Mar. 2022) (Link to PDF on Sharepoint; link updated 24/03/2022)
• RSC's Safety Regulations have been taken off-line following discussion with the RSC WHS Committee in late April 2021. The reason is that the release of ANU's WHS Management System (WHSMS) Handbook prescribes a range of practices and templates, and keeping the RSC Safety Regs in line with them is no longer achievable.
• RSC Risk Register (= Hazard Register; PDF, updated 21/03/2019)
• RSC Equipment Purchase Procedure and pre-purchase risk assessment (PDF, updated June 2021)
• RSC static risk assessment register (readable live EXCEL on Sharepoint; requires login with u-number)
• RSC Asbestos Register (PDF, permanent document)
• RSC info slides on static RA process (live link to read-only power point)
• Static RA for after-hours work; see RA-Global-00015
• Transfer of chemicals from building 35 to building 137/138 (live link to PDF on Sharepoint)

Templates

• Door sign for labs and instrument rooms (WORD template, ver Oct 2019)
• Fridge/Freezer door sign  (WORD template, ver Nov. 2018)
• Fume cupboard allocation in labs (WORD template, ver. Nov. 2018)
• Label template aqueous waste (acidic)
• Label template aqueous waste (basic)
• Label template aqueous waste (neutral)
• Label template organic waste (PDF)
• Label template halogenated waste (PDF)
• Label template silica waste (PDF)
• Label template research samples (hazards unknown) (PDF, 2-to-A4) (PDF, vial size labels)
• RSC Reaction Risk Assessment Template (intranet link to WORD and PDF) and Guide on how to use the RA template (PDF). Note: an ANU template for chemical reactions has been drafted up and is beeing reviewed. The new ANU template will replace the current RSC template as soon as it's been released (expected first half of 2022).
• RSC Chemical Purchasing template (live link to EXCEL on SharePoint)
• Research chemical SDS template (shipping/receiving research samples for analysis) (live link to WORD on Sharepoint)
• Drying ovens: Templates for warning signage and contents signage (mandatory on all glass-fronted drying ovens used for drying glassware)
• Label Template: Freezer "no food"
• Label Template: Fridge "no food" - (1) intrinsically safe, (2) not intrinsically safe
• Label Template: Warning sign "Fridge not intrinsically safe"
• End-user declaration for ordering schedule 4 and schedule 7 chemicals. (live link to WORD doc on Sharepoint)

Legislation and Standards

• Training/Information Document on GHS (PDF, 10.9 MB; SafeWork Australia)
• The overarching pieces of Commonwealth WHS legislation are the WHS Act 2011 and the WHS Regulations 2011.
• Approved Codes of Practice (web link to PDF files)
• Australian Standards (via ANU library; choose "Australian Standards"; ISIS/HORUS password required from outside ANU)
• Australian Dangerous Goods (ADG) Code

RSC emergency response

• RSC Warden and First Aid Register (live link to EXCEL on SharePoint)
• RSC First Aid Facilities and Equipment - Buildings 136, 137, 138 (live link to PDF on Sharepoint)
• RSC Emergency Plan including (live link to PDF on SharePoint)
  • emergency team member lists (Wardens, SCBA, first aiders)
  • first aid facilities (kits, rooms, oxygen, AEDs)
  • Building maps (hazard locations, service cut-off points)
• RSC Emergency Planning Committee (EPC; live link to SharePoint)
• Automatic External Defibrillators on the ANU Campus (map, link updated 02/06/2021)
• ANU Emergency Flip Chart (PDF, 1.7 MB; Nov. 2016)

RSC WHS Committee

The RSC WHS Committee (formerly Advisory Committee on Safety; ACS) is composed of the RSC Director, RSC School Manager, RSC WHS Manager, and a number of staff and student representatives from a variety of work areas across the RSC (e.g. academia, chemical research, biochemical research, workshops, students, postdocs, teaching). A minimum of 4 meetings are held each year, and everyone at the RSC is encouraged to raise safety related issues with the Committee.

• RSC WHS Committee members (live SharePoint link; updated 05/2021)
• Minutes of the Committee meetings can be found on the RSC intranet, ANU's WHS page on local WHS committees, and on the safety noticeboard in the foyer of building 137.
• RSC WHS Committee charter.
• RSC Corrective Action log (read-only link to live EXCEL)

Radiation

• APRANSA Radiation Audit Report March 2019 (Webpage linking to DOC)
• RSC Radiation Plans and Arrangements (Live Link to PDF on Sharepoint; v. 1.0, 24/03/2022)

Training

• Building inductions are run weekly starting in the foyer of building 137 to set up a buiding induction please email rsc.trainingofficer@anu.edu.au 
• ANU Training Catalogue (inlcuding WHS courses)
• Induction guideline for new arrivals staying less than 3 months (live WORD document)
• Induction guideline for new arrivals staying more than 3 months (live WORD document)
• ANU WHS- Chemical &Radiation Safety Online Courses Guide (PDF, version May 2021)
• Info session on RSC Local Training Plan was held on 30/04/2020 (Read-only PPT, TD 23/12/2020)
• Info session on chemical purchasing at RSC was held in Oct 2019 (live SharePoint link to PPTX, updated 21/09/2020)
• RSC After-hours emergency response training (Live link to power point 30/06/2020), next session TBC.

Chemwatch and Chemical Inventory

The Chemical Management System (CMS) has been implemented at the ANU in 2016 and includes a database for Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and an inventory of chemicals stored at the RSC and ANU. Link to CMS log-in: http://jr.chemwatch.net. Please use your u-number and HORUS/ISIS password to log in.

The RSC CMS team have developed this user guide document with tailored instructions and tips. 

Info sessions on RSC's chemical purchasing process, CMS data cleaning, SDS requirements and a few other topics were held in 2019, with more drop-in sessions for questions scheduled for 2020. Updated slide deck can be found here: Power Point (live document), or PDF (static).

If you would like to request the translation of a SDS from overseas to Australian requirements, fill out this SDS Translation Template and send it to CMS.RSC@anu.edu.au.

If you would like to request the generation of containers within ChemWatch in bulk, use this container generation template and send it to CMS.RSC@anu.edu.au.

List of time sensitive chermicals and chemicals that require licences. Whenever checking your chemicals/inventory or placing orders, consider the shelf life.

Useful information and guidance material around the CMS (e.g. deleting/adding containers, stocktake, manuals) provided by ANU. RSC specific inquiries and requests regarding the CMS should be emailed to CMS.RSC@anu.edu.au 

The CMS replaced the former Chemical Inventory System (CIS), which was phased out in 2017.